My Hall Of Fame Ballot Is Cast

After everyone has written down, or thought about their New Year’s resolutions, the time has come. No I’m not going to bore you with details of my weight loss plan, I’m talking baseball here people. Tomorrow is the day that we find out if our favorite players got the call from the hall.

I am including a list of my choices for this year’s ballot below. I take this list seriously, as if I got to vote along with the writer’s. Agree or disagree, I hope to see a list of your own choices in the comments.

My list (You can choose up to ten):

Ken Griffey Jr.

Trevor Hoffman

Mike Mussina

Mike Piazza

Tim Raines

Jeff Bagwell

Here’s why I chose who I did:

Ken Griffey Jr.- I don’t think there is any deliberation needed here. Griffey is likely to be the first unanimous vote in the history of the HOF. Any statistical analysis is superfluous at this point.

Trevor Hoffman- Who remembers Trevor Hoffman coming in from the bullpen to ACDC? The loud bells that rang out told the story. Even though Hoffman did not have over-powering stuff, his change-up and his ability to locate all of his other pitches made him one of the best. I loved watching him, and he is fully deserving of the call.

Mike Mussina- This one’s a mystery: why Mussina is not in the HOF is beyond me. His 270 career wins in the most hitter friendly division in baseball, goes unrecognized. Just for your information: he pitched for eighteen years in the AL East. He also fielded his position better than most ever could, with seven gold gloves to his credit.

Mike Piazza- Probably the best hitting catcher of all-time. Yeah he wasn’t the best defensively, but you cannot argue his offensive production. Career .308 hitter, while playing the most grueling position in all of baseball is no small task.

Tim Raines- To tell you the truth I am surprised he is still on the ballot. The guy was an iron man in the sport. He played for twenty three years, that’s right twenty three! He dominated the eighties, and though he may have fell off late in his career, the guy’s stats speak for themselves.

Jeff Bagwell- Even though his career may have been shorter than most in the HOF, his stats dictate he should be inducted. With a nagging injury that shortened his career, he still amassed 449 home runs, and a career .297 batting average over fifteen years.